


darling, tonight could be a beautiful night to die

by sylveondreams



Category: Jennifer's Body (2009)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, colin gray lives
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-04
Updated: 2020-10-04
Packaged: 2021-03-07 15:51:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,260
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26810182
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sylveondreams/pseuds/sylveondreams
Summary: “Why would I kill you?” Yet again, her teeth seemed sharp, but this time the illusion didn’t go away. “You think Jennifer Check kills boys?”
Comments: 2
Kudos: 23





	darling, tonight could be a beautiful night to die

**Author's Note:**

> Title from 'Wake the Dead' by The Used.

Colin jingled his keys in his hand, bouncing on the balls of his feet. The house looked empty where it loomed over him, the paint on the doorframe chipped and the windowframes yawning like doors. Well, the door was locked. They could be. 

“Jennifer?” he called again, but when there was no answer but a bird taking off from a telephone wire across the street, he pushed his way into the scraggly bushes to climb through one of the windows. 

This wasn’t Jennifer’s house. Of course it wasn’t. Colin wasn’t stupid, he knew she didn’t want him for anything but, what? Making Needy jealous? She wouldn’t invite him into her lair. But fuck it. The plastic sheet behind the window broke open with a rock, and Colin hauled himself through. (How had Jennifer got in? And she was in, there was light upstairs, the only light in the empty neighborhood.) 

The room was decorated with spiderwebs like lacy ceiling trim. Colin was acutely aware of the noise he was making in the quiet house, the chains on his clothes jingling as he held his arms above his head to avoid spiders in his hair. In the dark hallway, something skittered by, and on the squeaky staircase, a bird flew at him, leaving him braced and cowering against the wall, his heart pounding. The keys in his pocket burned against his leg. 

“Jennifer?” Still silence. This was fucking stupid. Colin continued up the stairs. There was no sign of his heart letting up. It hammered in his chest, and sweat prickled at his back. 

Upstairs was illuminated by candlelight. He could already see dozens of candles in the big room at the end of the hall, and as Colin inched towards the doorway, his nerves screamed at him. He’d seen horror movies, this was the kind of shit a ritual sacrifice would get illuminated by. His fingers ran over the beads on his rosary, pressing the crucifix into his palm. 

The candlelit room was empty. 

The candlelit room was  _ not _ empty. A hand touched his shoulder, and Colin leapt away, spinning to catch a glimpse of whoever was behind him. “Fuck. Jennifer.”

“Hey,” said Jennifer. Her eyes glowed in the candlelight. “Glad you could make it.”

“I don’t-” Colin reached up to scratch his head, trying to calm his rabbit heart. “Fuck, Jennifer, did you need to make this like a horror movie?”

“I thought you’d like it.” She grinned, and in the candlelight her teeth looked sharp and bloody. When he blinked, they were normal again. It was the nerves.

“I do,” and he probably should, because it shouldn’t be so scary now that Jennifer was here, but it was actually fucking terrifying now that she was. It was something about the way she was standing. “Not a great first date, though.” Nervous laughter.

Jennifer laughed along. She took a step closer, and Colin took a step back. 

“Jennifer, you’re scaring me.”

“Come on. You want to kiss me, don’t you? Why else did you come here?”

“To watch a movie. Not to be  _ in _ a movie,” Colin’s voice broke, “Please.”

“Please.” Jennifer seemed to leap forward, and then she was kissing him, a hand burning against the back of his head and another hand burning against the small of his back and her lips hot against his like a dragon’s. 

Colin put his arms awkwardly around her and kissed back, because what the  _ fuck _ else was he supposed to do. The beads of the rosary pressed against his wrist and hand like a reminder. (From his mother? From God?)

Jennifer’s fingers were like claws in his hair, and when he tried to pull away she threw him reeling across the room, tripping and falling to his hands and knees before an array of candles. When he stood up, the candles’ flames were blurred with tears, and he wiped his eyes with the back of a hand. “Jennifer?” It seemed like the only thing he could say, like a robot who was broken or perhaps just scripted to only know the name of the person who stood before it. 

Jennifer tossed her hair behind her shoulders and unzipped her jacket to dump it on the floor. The door was behind her. Her shirt joined the jacket on the ground, and fuck, tits would be great if Colin weren’t terrified. 

“Please don’t kill me.”

“Why would I kill you?” Yet again, her teeth seemed sharp, but this time the illusion didn’t go away. “You think Jennifer Check kills boys?”

Well.

No.

Just the one.

Or. 

A rock in Colin’s stomach dragged it down to push on the rest of his guts. “Did you eat- Did you kill Jonas?”

Jennifer stretched leisurely, not bothering to answer. The candlelight gleamed off her bare skin. 

“Oh, God.” A candle fell behind Colin’s foot. 

Jennifer lunged. As he fell back underneath her, Colin’s head hit the windowframe, and he watched, dazed, as her sharp teeth went for his neck. Flames flickered across the dusty floor. At the last second, he managed to shove at her, sending her stumbling away with bloody teeth and a snarl like an animal. His neck stung. 

The door. He had to get to the door. Colin pushed himself off the wall and moved, his head spinning. Halfway across the room, Jennifer lunged at him again, and he flinched away, putting his arm up to protect himself. Her weight knocked him to the ground once more, teeth ripping out a chunk of his arm, hands clawing at him. Fire climbed the covered furniture, too close to the door. Colin struggled.

He’d never been good at defending himself. But with the adrenaline of  _ fuck, I’m actually going to die _ , he managed to shove her off again. Colin staggered to his feet. She was between him and the door. 

The window. This was a front window. This was fucking stupid. Colin ran for the window. His forehead hit the windowsill when she attacked this time, and his vision swam as claws tore open his shirt. 

“You taste like fear,” hissed Jennifer. He watched her lick blood off her hand. Behind her, the room was consumed in flames. Colin tried to get to his feet, but claws dug into his chest and he only made it halfway. Broken glass in the windowframe cut at his hand. Again, he pushed, somehow once more knocking her off her crouched balance, and he made it out of the window without even noticing what he was doing. 

Thank fuck the bushes under this window were overgrown, because they cushioned his fall, and he was able to get to his feet and run for his car, hand in his pocket for his keys. 

From the flaming window, Jennifer shouted, “I’ll see you at school!” like she hadn’t just been trying to kill him. Colin fumbled with the keys, scratching up his car before managing to unlock the door and scramble into the driver’s seat. His hand shook as he tried to turn the ignition. The cassette started again when the car turned on, like everything was normal, and Colin wrenched his car into gear to flee the neighborhood. 

The front door opened just as he raised his fist to pound on it. For a moment, they were frozen staring at each other, Colin a sight in his torn and bloodstained clothing, his injured hand held close to his chest, the rosary twined around it sticky with blood. 

Finally, Colin managed to speak. “Needy, your girlfriend is a fucking monster.”

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me on tumblr at [sylveondreams!](https://sylveondreams.tumblr.com/)


End file.
